Getting eyelash extensions is something I have been going back and forth about for a few months. Do I ruin my naturally long and pretty eyelashes for a synthetic product to make them look fuller on the outer edges, or keep layering on four coats of mascara every day? Friends and followers have shared horror stories about their eyelash extensions on my social media and I wasn’t sure I was ready to try them out for myself.

Instead of spending the dough and risking my God-given lashes, I decided to resort to some old friends from my years of competitive dance—drugstore falsies.

I taught myself how to apply falsies at the age of nine. My mascara application abilities were severely lacking, but my stage makeup was not to be compromised! Falsies became a necessity when I entered high school and scored a spot on drill team as well, so I headed to CVS to see if my old stage makeup secret could be my new best-kept beauty secret.

Since I was going for a natural look, I opted for Ardell Demi Whispies. For the glue, I’ve always Found the Duo Eyelash Adhesivein black (which comes in a tube with pink lettering) to be the best. I apply winged eyeliner or brush black eye shadow along my top lashline so the glue blends in and doesn’t look goopy. I use tweezers to place the lashes and apply a little pressure on the inside corner of the lashes so they will stay in place.

It was weird wearing the falsies out in public on a regular day, since I normally use Ardell Glamorous lashes for special events or photo shoots that require heavy makeup. It was nice not to have to worry about my mascara wearing off, however, and I got tons of compliments on my makeup.

I ran into problems on day three when my allergies hit. My eyes were itching before I went to bed and when I tried to apply my eyelashes in the morning, they burned like crazy. I was worried it may be something in the glue, but since I’d used Duo countless times before I figured that wasn’t the case. They started to burn less after about half an hour and I was able to keep them on the rest of the day.

By the end of the week, I felt like I had been using falsies as an integral part of my makeup routine for ages. The application process was faster each day and I felt like I looked much more presentable in a shorter amount of time. On the fifth day I wore them without any top eyeliner and they actually looked pretty natural—I got several compliments on my makeup that day! When I finally went back to using mascara, I was amazed at how much longer my actual eyelashes had gotten over the course of the week. By only applying one coat of Maybelline Full N’ Soft mascara every day, my eyelashes were able to breathe and grow.

Since properly-applied falsies look just as good as extensions, I don’t think I’ll be risking my healthy natural lashes for that endeavor any time soon.

If you want to add a little drama to your makeup routine or have a special event coming up but have never worn falsies before, here’s what I would recommend:

Try applying your falsies a few days beforehand so you can get the hang of it.

Use liquid eyeliner or black eye shadow to gently enhance your top lash line before applying falsies. This way they won’t look crooked when you apply them.

Buy black glue so it blends in with your liner.

Use tweezers to apply the falsies, and the other end of the tweezers to press down on them when the glue is drying so you can secure them in place.